The Sleeper
by TreeStar
Summary: ZoLu Oneshot. Luffy's curse has gotten in the way again and he needs Zoro's help to do something. He doesn't want to wake Zoro up just to be a bother, though, because Zoro wouldn't like that...


First, a little Japanese culture lesson (many of you may know all this).

ofuro Japanese style bathtub. It is very long, narrow and deep (chin-deep to an adult once they're sitting up in it), and children are either washed in something smaller or taken in with an adult carrying them. In Japan, a "bath" is not taken in the tub. First you sit in a chair next to the tub and scrub squeaky clean and rinse off by pouring buckets of water over yourself (or sometimes with a shower jet nowadays). Then you soak in the ofuro for a while. It's healthy for your skin and very relaxing. The water in the ofuro lasts an entire family several days without being changed because a cover is kept over it when no one's in the water and no one EVER gets into it without being clean (filling one is expensive because it's so deep). It stays warm for days like this, but it is healthiest for injuries, though, when it is fresh and VERY hot (minerals are sometimes added to it early in, but they become ineffective after two or three days).

I noticed on the ship that they have an ofuro, but they don't use it much, because when they show it, it's almost always uncovered (empty). They use the modern bathtub most of the time because it's bigger and less of a hassle. The only time they talk about the ofuro is when someone's hurt or sick, or when Sanji's spoiling the girls.

written by Teresa Starr Ruark

**The Sleeper**

"Luffy! The ofuro is ready!"

Upon hearing is name, the young captain lowered the spyglass that was kept in the crows nest and looked down below him to where Nami was waving her arms to get his attention. "What?"

Nami waved to indicate he should come down. "The bath water is ready. It's been a while, and you could use one. It would be good for all the cuts and scratches you somehow manage to get all the time."

Luffy grabbed the boom and swung himself down to the deck to join his navigator. "I bathe!" he said in offended protest, "It's not like I stay dirty all the time. Mataku na! Don't be so rude!"

Nami sighed patiently, but put her hands on her hips in frustration all the same, "I know you _bathe_! I never said you didn't. You scrub up, but I know you haven't had a soak in a while because you can't go in alone. But the water is hot now, and Zoro's not doing anything productive this afternoon, so he can watch you."

Luffy slapped his fist into his palm in a show of comprehension, "I get it! …ZORO!" he began to call for his first mate, "Nami says we need to take a bath together!"

In the kitchen, the sound of chopping abruptly stopped for a moment before continuing at a fast rate, and in the corner, Usopp's hand slipped on his wrench.

Nami held her head in her hand. "I wish you wouldn't yell it like that…" she sighed, mostly to herself because her captain's attention for her was long lost.

Deciding to scour the ship for his lost first mate from front to back, Luffy first checked the foredeck, then the armory, the hold, and finally the storage room before calling Sanji out of the kitchen to ask if Zoro was in there. Unfortunately, he received a nothing but a negative response and a crude message to pass on to the swordsman when he found him, which Luffy promptly forgot.

All of this took no more than about a minute, and then the undaunted Sencho started climbing the stairs to the aft deck, all the while calling Zoro's name.

He puffed up his cheeks when he found his missing first mate (who had _never_ bothered to _answer_ him…) laying in the middle of the deck with his head propped on his hand. "Here you are, Zoro! What are you doing? Couldn't you hear me calling for you?"

He gave an irritated pout when he got no answer.

"Zoro?" Luffy called -curiously this time- as he approached his first mate. Squatting next to his unresponsive swordsman, Luffy saw that he was asleep. He folded his arms and let his head tilt to one side as he considered his options. "Hmmm…"

Biting his lower lip, the small pirate reached out and shook the older man's shoulder, now calling in a whisper, "hey… zoro?"

Zoro's only mumbled something unintelligible in his sleep and shifted position slightly before laying still. Luffy tried again, but Zoro didn't move.

With a now disappointed pout, Luffy began to draw imaginary doodles on the deck with his finger. Zoro didn't seem to want to wake up, and the little captain didn't want to bother Zoro just so he could watch over him in the bath. No matter how the swordsman grumbled, Luffy knew that Zoro probably wouldn't _really_ mind at all… he was pretty patient about things like that… but Luffy didn't like it when his curse made him a burden. He wanted to be a dependable captain, not a captain that pestered his crew at inconvenient times…

But Nami had said that Luffy should soak now, and she was the closest thing to a doctor they had on this ship. …_And_ a bath would feel really good…

He juggled the two opposing sides for a moment, then settled on a compromise. He knew that Zoro usually didn't sleep for too long in one place. Preferring the catnap style, he tended to wake up every thirty minutes or so and move to another part of the deck where he would fall back to sleep. Luffy would wait for that to happen, and then he would pounce. It was perfectly plausible. If Zoro wasn't ready to wake up, then Luffy would just wait until he was.

--_A few minutes later_--

Zoro woke with a huge yawn and blinked groggily around the deck. _Fell asleep again…_

He was just closing his eyes again when he saw something that made him do a double take. Luffy was curled up on the deck beside him, apparently sleeping soundly. _What the…when did he get here? _

Now more awake, he pulled himself closer to his captain. "…Luffy? What are you doing?"

Luffy made a small sound that may or may not have been a word, but he didn't move. The swordsman grew suspicious. "Oi, are you faking?" He reached out and poked the boy's cheek to rouse him, then pulled it back when he heard his captain make a sleepy moan, thinking that the boy would bat him away when his hand came up… But Luffy only rubbed his cheek with his fist as if scratching an itch, and then settled again with his hand on the deck in front of his face, never waking up.

Zoro smiled fondly at the boy. At that moment, there was simply no other way to describe him, Luffy was adorable. "How can such a little body hold so many huge dreams…?"

The small boy snuggled into a tighter ball, whimpering before laying still again, "…grandline…"

Zoro leaned over the boy and stroked his fingers through his captain's hair before laying down again with one arm across the boy's chest.

That was the picture that Nami saw upon walking around the corner. She paused for a moment to see if either of them would acknowledge her, and sighed when neither moved, walking across the deck to stand in their sun.

This captured the swordsman's attention and he opened one eye and looked dryly up at her. "What is it?"

"Can you take down and put him in the ofuro for a little while?" She requested in an older-sisterly fashion as Zoro lazily started to push himself to his feet. "It would be good for him. I mean, you'd know better than anyone how he's been wound like a rubber band ready to snap. If he isn't springing around the deck driving everyone crazy, he's perched as lookout for hours at a time.

Zoro looked back down at the boy in question and quirked and eyebrow in pseudo-irritation that was directed at Nami, "Who's fault is that? He's only been like this since he heard Logue Town was our last stop before the Grand Line."

Nami smiled down at him as well, "I know. He's so excited he's worn himself out. I sent him to get you to help him, but I guess he decided to take a page out of your book and sleep."

Zoro wondered briefly why the captain hadn't just woken him before realizing that Nami's question hadn't actually been a rhetorical order in disguise. "Yeah, I can take him, but do you really think we should wake him up when he's finally calmed down?"

"Why would we want to do that? Just take him to the bathroom and take care of him. When you put him in the water he'll be exhausted and weak anyway, won't he?" With that, Sanji made his entrance and Nami had to shush him up by waving a hand in Luffy's direction. "You'll take care of him, won't you Zoro?" she gave the rhetorical question that was really an order and walked over toward Sanji. The cook paused upon seeing the sleeping child, shot an expectant smirk at Zoro, and then turned and escorted Nami down the stairs without saying a word.

Sanji knew how Zoro felt toward their captain, and Zoro knew he knew, and Sanji knew that Zoro knew he knew. So there was no longer need to point it out or tease him anymore. Zoro liked to think they were passed that. …usually…

Now alone with his charge, Zoro stooped down and gently scooped the boy up in his arms before proceeding toward the bathroom with him. Luffy mumbled something incomprehensible and snuggled deeper into his swordsman's warmth as they went down the stairs, and Zoro looked at his captain with a tenderness that he never showed anyone else.

He'd have to rinse the little pirate down before he put him in the tub, but taking care of Luffy was something Zoro had done and still looked forward to doing every day since he'd signed on as his first mate. And no amount of teasing or hassling would ever change that.


End file.
